PCB refers to a rigid circuit board, which is the carrier of electronic components and has the title of the mother of electrons. FPC refers to a flexible circuit board, which is like a blood vessel of an electronic product. It is an important connection line in electronic components and belongs to the category of PCB. Laser cutting refers to the use of high-energy laser beam to illuminate the surface of the material, vaporized material to form a cut, applied to PCB, FPC laser cutting equipment mainly includes ultraviolet laser cutting machine, green laser cutting machine and picosecond laser cutting machine. Different materials and different processing requirements, the equipment used is different, ChuangWei introduces the commonalities and differences of different laser cutting machine types in processing FPC and PCB.

Laser cutting FPC/PCB commonality

Laser cutting FPC and PCB can be processed by UV laser cutting machine.

At the nanosecond level, laser-cut FPC products can only use UV laser cutting machine, which has the best effect and can guarantee the cutting efficiency problem. It can also be processed by green or infrared laser, compared with the ultraviolet laser of cold light source. The effect is even worse, there is more serious carbonization, so it is not often used. In the process of cutting FPC products, the UV laser cutting machine will also be viewed under the magnifying glass due to the laser crossover area, which has a slight carbonization effect. In the new generation of FPC laser cutting machine, this problem can be effectively solved. Laser cutting equipment can solve the problem of carbonization, especially for the FPC cover film and PI reinforcement film processing, and of course, the cost will also rise.

Laser-cut PCB rigid circuit boards usually use ultraviolet laser cutting machines. Unlike FPC laser cutting machines, the power used is higher. Some parts of the optical devices can be replaced by domestically produced devices, which can alleviate the cost of some parts. Overall reduce the equipment cost of the PCB laser cutting machine.

Laser cutting FPC/PCB differences

The difference between laser-cut FPC and PCB products is mainly reflected in the materials and types of lasers. The classification of PCB products includes paper substrates, copper substrates, aluminum substrates, glass fiber boards, composite substrates, etc. The types of laser cutting machines are different for different substrate materials, such as aluminum substrates and copper substrates. Laser cutting machine, and paper substrate, fiberglass board and other materials can be processed by UV laser cutting machine or green laser cutting machine. The processing of FPC products, due to the high requirements for the processing of material properties, the current nanosecond laser on the market can only choose UV laser cutting machine, although the new generation of picosecond laser cutting machine can have multiple light source options, But the cost is too high and it is still not popular.

In terms of processing effect, ordinary composite substrate PCB products use carbon cutting in the presence of carbonization. The thicker the product, the higher the degree of carbonization processed. Of course, under the premise of completely ignoring efficiency, the naked eye can also be achieved. Blackening requires customers to balance efficiency and effectiveness. The FPC laser cutting machine is relatively more mature in processing effect, and it is already a general-purpose product on the market. The effect and efficiency have been verified by the market.

The commonality and difference between laser cutting FPC or laser cutting PCB are nothing but the balance point of customers. The flexibility of UV laser cutting machine can meet the processing of PCB, FPC, PI film, copper foil and other materials. Under the conditions of efficiency, customers also need to balance, from cost, profit and other aspects, unless the pursuit of maximum efficiency.